Air Force Materiel Command consolidation to move forward

2:00 p.m. EST, June 19, 2012|Barrie Barber, Dayton Daily News

WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE --The Air Force Materiel Command will open an Air Force Life Cycle Management Center next month at Wright-Patterson as the service consolidates 12 management and operation centers across the nation to five.

The consolidation will initially cut more than 1,000 civilian jobs across AFMC centers around the county and save about $109 million a year. Exact numbers on the impact at Wright-Patterson have not been released, but no major job losses are expected at Wright-Patterson, however.

The changes are driven by $487 billion in expected Department of Defense budget cuts over the next decade that capped civilian employment to 2010 fiscal year levels

A RAND Corp. study released this week reviewed the changes, which it largely backed, and made recommendations. Among its findings, the AFMC should develop ways to track the effectiveness and efficiency of the changes and improving the support systems design planning early in product development.

"This is a critical step in the future of the Air Force," said Jeff Hoagland, executive director of the Dayton Development Coalition. "This is something that has not been done in decades."

The Air Force LCMC will open July 9 at Wright-Patterson. The center will take over the Aeronautical Systems Command, also at the base, coinciding with the July 20 retirement of ASC commander Lt. Gen. Thomas Owen, according to the Air Force.

The Air Force Security Assistance Center at the base will be renamed the Air Force Security Assistance and Cooperation Directorate and become part of the Life Cycle Management Center.